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Rick Perry Drops Out, Endorses Gingrich; Tensions Heat Up With Iran; Dolly Parton Interview; Murder Mystery in Houston; Seven Teens Arrested in Online Beating; President Obama in Disneyworld; Victory For Santorum In Iowa

Aired January 19, 2012 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And here we go, hour two.

Top of the hour and welcome back. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

First of all,, news just in from the Mitt Romney regarding those Iowa caucus results, this as Rick Santorum declares victory and Newt Gingrich cuts into Romney's leads in South Carolina.

Time to play an all-political "Reporter Roulette" here, CNN politics style.

We will begin with Jim Acosta following team Romney in Charleston, South Carolina.

Jim, it looks like Iowa is out of now Romney's you know, win column. The newly certified tally shows Rick Santorum actually won the caucuses, right, by 34 votes. What's Romney saying?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right.

That's a good question, Brooke. We're not really sure right now, to be quite honest with you. Our Paul Steinhauser told me just a few moments ago that he got a call or that he called Hogan Gidley with the Santorum campaign and the Santorum campaign says Mitt Romney called Rick Santorum to concede the Iowa caucuses.

Now, Candy Crowley has said she has heard from the Romney campaign and the Romney campaign is saying no, no, no, we did not call Rick Santorum to concede the Iowa caucuses. So I guess we just have to let the viewers decide.

Basically here's what happened. Earlier this morning, an e-mail came out from the Romney campaign that -- and it was a statement from Mitt Romney calling what happened in Iowa "a virtual tie." But a few hours later, the Santorum campaign puts out an e-mail, a press release to reporters saying Santorum wins Iowa.

We tried to press Mitt Romney on all of in this earlier morning at this event outside of his office here in Charleston. He had no comment on what happened out in the Iowa caucuses. We did briefly catch up with him and talk to him about Rick Perry dropping out of the race. I don't know if we have that sound ready. We'd like to play it. BALDWIN: But we do, Jim.

ACOSTA: But he only had some brief comments about Rick Perry. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Governor Perry, terrific guy, terrific conservative. Been a great governor. Was great in the race. And we're going to miss him on the stage tonight.

ACOSTA: How about those final results in Iowa? Is it fair to call it a tie when Santorum came out on top? Governor, it's been a big news day. Can you just give us a couple comments, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, guys, move out of the way. I have got to get through.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: So, Brooke, I don't know if you caught that. We were trying to...

BALDWIN: You tried.

ACOSTA: ... talk to Mitt Romney about the fact that you're calling it a tie. But yet, you know, when you won, when it was said that you won the Iowa caucuses by eight votes, he was out in New Hampshire calling it a squeaker. John McCain was calling it a landslide sort of jokingly.

And so they were fully prepared to call that a victory after they won by eight votes. Now that Rick Santorum is ahead by 34 votes, it's all very confusing now, I have to be honest with you. We just don't have a straight answer on that one at this point.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: So there's confusion over a concession. But let's just take that out of this whole issue, right? We know matter-of-factly that Rick Santorum did win the Iowa caucuses. Tell me though how that directly affects Saturday in South Carolina and the primary where you are.

ACOSTA: You know, what it does, it doesn't really affect things a great deal in terms of delegate counts and that sort of thing. But what it does is it sort of chips away at this air of inevitability that the Romney campaign so carefully tries to craft out here on the campaign trail.

Their big argument is that Mitt Romney is electable, right? So, before, they were saying, look, he's two for two, he won Iowa and New Hampshire, no candidate has ever done that since Gerald Ford, no non- incumbent has ever done it ever.

And so now that equation changes a little bit. And you go into South Carolina. Keep in mind he had a bunch of missteps up in New Hampshire. Remember pink slips, talking about I like to be able to fire people, even though that was sort of taken out of context. Those were considered gaffes. He could afford to do that in New Hampshire. But now he's having a difficult week here in South Carolina.

But the margin of error is razor thin, Brooke. He is only up by seven points in a Politico poll, behind by a point in an ARG poll. Going into tonight, all of the pressure is on Mitt Romney at tonight's CNN debate -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Jim Acosta, I cannot wait for tonight 8:00 Eastern. It's going to be fascinating with those four guys on the stage now.

Jim, thank you.

Let's continue the conversation, though. We have got Shannon Travis in Des Moines, Iowa, where, as we mentioned, you have Rick Santorum now claiming that caucus victory, those 34 votes now more than two weeks after the fact.

I just asked Jim, Shannon, same question to you with regard to the significance of this win and also just the reaction. What are you hearing from the Santorum campaign?

SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: Well, let me start with the second question first, the reaction.

Jim just mentioned he tried to press the governor, Governor Romney about how can you call it a tie. I asked that same question to the chairman of the Iowa Republican Party. The headquarters is right behind me. And he says unequivocally this is not a tie, that this is a clear win for Rick Santorum without any doubt.

Now, let's just talk a little bit about how we got to this point. The gave unofficial results on caucus night, right, Brooke, because all of the different precinct chairs across Iowa were calling in their results. They had two weeks to submit a form, a form that was the official document that said what we phoned in on caucus night is what our official numbers are.

Eight precincts didn't do that for whatever reasons. The chairman, Chairman Strawn, said they either lost the paper or just didn't send it in for whatever reason. I have called around and identified -- I have identified all eight precincts and I have identified results, unofficial results from four of them. And the numbers changed a little bit.

Now, again, these are unofficial. These don't go with the certified totals because this form, they won't put it on form, but I called and spoke with a man named Don Lucas, who is the county chairman that contains where all these four precincts lie and the numbers that I got change a little bit and say that Rick Santorum still would have won, but he would have won by 59.

Now, again, I can't stress enough that these are not certified numbers, but it's important, because us as Don Lucas told me, Brooke, every vote matters. He's a little bit upset with the Iowa Republican Party that these numbers weren't included just because they are on a form.

Wanted to just mention one last thing. Don Lucas does not support, has not endorsed anyone. He's unaligned. He's telling me these are the numbers that he phoned in, Brooke, didn't get them on the form -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Every vote counts. We're all going to keep that in mind as we watch the votes come in this Saturday in South Carolina. Shannon Travis, the man who was in Iowa for seven months and you got sucked back in on a nine-degree day -- we just checked the weather because you look a little chilly. Shannon Travis, thank you.

TRAVIS: Five degrees, Brooke, five degrees.

BALDWIN: Chilly. Thank you.

Next on "Reporter Roulette", let's go to Joe Johns, who is a tad warmer, for us in beautiful Charleston, South Carolina, with more on the surging Newt Gingrich numbers.

We have these new number. Let me just share them. Joe, these new poll numbers show Gingrich cutting into Mitt Romney's lead in South Carolina. You have Romney down four points from the first week of the month, Gingrich up five points. He has cut Romney's lead nearly in half. I imagine Gingrich feeling a little better today.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Yes, feeling pretty happy, you would think.

I mean, a good day for him when you consider the fact, Brooke, that Rick Perry got out of the race. He threw his support behind Newt Gingrich. What's not to like about a day like this? But frankly the Gingrich campaign is kind of in damage control right now. That's because Marianne Gingrich, who is the second of Newt Gingrich's three wives, gave an interview to ABC News and in that interview said among other things that Newt Gingrich wanted some type of an open relationship between himself, Marianne and Callista Bisek, who later became Callista Gingrich, the current wife of Newt Gingrich.

That's kind of, if you will, a mess. As I said, they're in damage control. Two of the adult daughters of Newt Gingrich actually put out a statement talking about the fact that any divorce is a tragedy, a personal tragedy in other words, the implication being that ABC ought to leave it alone, though they never actually said that.

So at a media availability down in Beaufort, South Carolina, a few hours ago, I asked Newt Gingrich about these new revelations and listen to his response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Look, I'm not going to say anything about Marianne. My two daughters have already written to ABC complaining about this as tawdry and inappropriate. Both of my daughters are prepared to speak on the record with any of you who would like to talk to them. Several other people who knew the situation are prepared to speak on the record. I'm not getting involved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: So, the question, of course, is how is all of this going to play out in the election? And we will probably know that on Saturday -- Brooke, back to you.

BALDWIN: We will see. We will be working and we will see Saturday night. Joe Johns, thank you so much.

But before Saturday, we have got huge, huge news tonight, right? The GOP contenders facing off for what could be the final debate. Join John King and Wolf Blitzer for the Southern Republican presidential debate right here on CNN tonight 8:00 Eastern only on CNN.

And we will have more on our special political coverage ahead, including what impact Rick Perry's endorsement will have on this race.

Plus, the U.S. Navy making a big move near Iran as tensions heat up.

Also, first a head, then hands, now more body parts found near the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles. Investigators are revealing a theory now in mystery.

And then the one and only Dolly Parton joining me live this hour with a huge announcement. By the way, it's her birthday today. Let's wish her a happy birthday.

Stay right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWS BREAK)

BALDWIN: Developing this hour: a mystery in California, more body parts found near the Hollywood sign. And investigators are revealing their hunch. Find out what they're hoping to find in what one local calls a freaky situation. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: It is a California landmark. Now the area right around the famous Hollywood sign is a crime scene, and a pretty bizarre one at that.

Since Tuesday, police have found first a head, then the hands and a set of feet believed to be from a middle-aged man. Crews are fanning out across a seven-acre area now looking for his torso.

Want to bring in Andrew Blankstein. He is a reporter with "The L.A. Times."

Andrew, look, this is strange even by Hollywood standards. When you're looking at this -- when police are now looking at the heads, the hands and feet, what can they tell, how long has he been dead, that kind of thing?

ANDREW BLANKSTEIN, "THE LOS ANGELES TIMES": Well, what they have said so far is that they think that this murder happened fairly recently based on the condition of the body parts.

Somebody was killed and then brought to that area and perhaps buried there. Some of the parts were buried. Now, how -- they were scattered around the small area. But still, how that happened and then obviously, the most kind of dramatic and macabre part of it with this human head found by these dog walkers, obviously, makes this a pretty compelling story.

BALDWIN: Let's listen to what now the LAPD has said about the search and then I have got a question for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COMMANDER ANDY SMITH, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT: We're thinking, if it's a torso, it would be awfully difficult for someone to carry up a 100- or 150-pound torso up a hill like this. Maybe from the top, but we also have people up above us on the hills coming down from the top. So if there's a chance that it's up there, hopefully we will find it.

There may be any other clues. Who knows what we're going to find up there. So we will send our crews through here and told them to look for anything at all that might be a clue to this case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, Andrew, we know that the head was found in a bag, as he mentioned, no torso. How were the hands and feet found?

BLANKSTEIN: Well, the feet were found in a shallow grave according to my law enforcement sources. And then the hands were nearby.

And one of the things that they're trying to figure out, obviously, in addition to looking at this crime scene, is some of the other elements of this, which is, were there any people that saw anything on either hiking -- and this is kind of the heavily traveled area, certainly during the day -- and in the neighborhood. Does anybody remember anybody driving through quickly or getting out of there?

Then there's the whole thing about was there somebody who had a loved one who was missing and then calls in? So there's a lot of things that are happening behind the scenes, you know, besides some of the things that are going out obviously during the search out in the hills. BALDWIN: When I think of, though, a severed head, I think of gang violence, cartel violence. We hear of heads being found on the Texas border, Arizona maybe. But near the Hollywood sign? Can you try to explain that?

BLANKSTEIN: Well, yes, it's a place that you really wouldn't think that would be kind of a likely burial ground for this.

I mean, it certainly conjures up a lot of images. Obviously, this it is Hollywood. So people have a pretty broad imagination. One thing that police have said is that they think the reason why the parts were buried or somebody tried to bury them was to get rid of any identifying factors.

You know, one of the things that the coroner's office now is looking at is going to be the dental records and the fingerprints.

BALDWIN: Prints.

BLANKSTEIN: You run DMV records or look at a criminal past. So even though, yes, it definitely kind of strikes you as incredibly macabre, and that there are these elements, was it a hit, was it something else, time will tell.

BALDWIN: And I know -- a final question -- they're questioning a lot of people. But when is this, Andrew, about Brad Pitt's bodyguard being questioned? Why?

BLANKSTEIN: You know, I have not heard that.

And the question -- I mean, if somebody -- if he was -- and again, they have questioned a lot of people in the neighborhood in the area. So it's hard to say exactly why. But, you know, one of the first things they did day one was canvass the entire neighborhood as well as anybody who had been hiking in the area.

So, whether it was him or many other people, I'm sure, you know, they have had detectives all over the place the past few days trying to get something, anything, that will help them solve this case.

BALDWIN: Andrew Blankstein from "The L.A. Times," thank you so much, very macabre story.

Rick Perry out of the GOP race. He quickly threw his support behind Newt Gingrich this morning. So in a state Gingrich must do well in, what impact does Perry's endorsement really have in South Carolina? Does it even matter? If so, how much?

That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Big news today as we have been reporting out of South Carolina: Rick Perry donezo. He is out of the race for the Republican nomination for president.

Peter Hamby is there with the Perry campaign or I guess what's left of it.

Peter, you broke the news this morning. I know a lot of folks figured Perry would quit the race after his dismal showing in Iowa. He pressed on. To South Carolina, he went. Why get out now, what, a day, two days before the primary?

PETER HAMBY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's an interesting question. I asked the campaign about this, this morning. They said they were going to go all-in in South Carolina. And then halfway through -- or as the primary is approaching, they leave.

Frankly, they wanted to avoid an embarrassment to finish in last place. That's what polls showed after Jon Huntsman left the race that Perry was going to be the caboose in the Republican field here. He went out with a flourish, endorsing Newt Gingrich, as we saw earlier. He does not have a warm relationship with Governor Romney. He does have a good relationship, Brooke, with Speaker Gingrich.

So will this have an impact here in South Carolina? I actually think it might. A lot of voters here do like Governor Perry and they didn't think he was electable in the end. But this is a tightening race, and anything around the margins helps. This is much more helpful to Speaker Gingrich than Huntsman's endorsement was for Governor Romney, Brooke.

He was at least worth five or six points in the polls, popular with some evangelicals. And that could help Newt Gingrich in the end, because this is looking like a dogfight down to the finish between Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney as we head into tonight's debate here in Charleston -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Well, you bring up Gingrich and Romney. At least we know Perry and Gingrich have this one thing in common. They very much so hammered Mitt Romney, questioning layoffs at Bain Capital.

I remember your reporting about Rick Perry calling him a venture -- no, not a venture -- a vulture capitalist, right? Is that the mark Rick Perry made on his campaign?

HAMBY: It's one of them. I mean, Rick Perry had a major impact on this campaign in several ways.

First was just by getting in the race in August. First of all, he flattened Michele Bachmann in Iowa. He was really the first real threat to Governor Romney in this race because had he such deep pockets. He had an executive profile and he frankly had conservative credentials that Mitt Romney did not. It made the Mitt Romney campaign react to a challenger in a way that they hadn't before.

And a more pressing impact, I think, is from the debate the other night. Rick Perry, don't forget, was the guy who got Mitt Romney on his heels about his tax returns. That spiraled into a very, very big story and finally again, his final impact right here on the race could be these votes around the margins, do they help Rick Santorum, do they help Newt Gingrich in the final reckoning. Ultimately, the biggest impact is on Rick Perry himself because he really hurt himself nationally in this race through his debate performances. And that oops moment will frankly go down as one of the most embarrassing moments in American political history, to be quite honest.

So if he does want to run for president again, which I can tell you they will not rule out in 2016 or 2020, he's got to kind of burnish that brand a little bit over the next few years, Brooke. But he's got a lot of work to do on that front.

BALDWIN: And then there were four.

This debate tonight in a couple hours, it is going to be huge.

Peter Hamby in South Carolina, thank you.

By the way, the debate tonight 8:00 Eastern.

Now to this. Young woman extremely smart, beautiful, she was a scientist at a cancer facility. She had the whole world in front of her. Up next, this young woman was shot to death, and her family is pleading for your help.

Plus, a video has surfaced online. It shows the vicious beating of a teenage boy in Chicago. Coming up, we're on the case. We're going to show you the video. And we're going to talk to you about the posting of these types of vicious videos online.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: "On the Case" today this murder mystery in Houston. The victim, Gelareh Bagherzadeh, young, beautiful, very, very smart. A molecular scientist studying at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. She was shot to death Sunday night as she driving home while talking to her ex-boyfriend on her cell phone. Her family, as you can imagine, pleading for help to find her killer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALI BAGHERZADEH, VICTIM'S BROTHER: I'm just begging any person that shows anything about who might have done it or what are these people because my family is devastated. And what I can say is very hard and I can't see my parents, and I don't want to see any parents be in this situation and we need to get these people off the street.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Sunny Hostin is on the case.

And Sunny, do police have any idea why someone would want to kill this young woman?

SUNNY HOSTIN, LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR, "IN SESSION" ON TRUTV: Well, it doesn't appear that way, Brooke. I mean it truly is a murder mystery as you mentioned before. So much so that the family has gone public and is asking the public to help with any potential leads. They have followed certain rumors.

It was rumored that she was sort of a champion of women's rights and had spoken out against the Iranian government and so police thought perhaps that this killing had something to do with those activities. But her family is saying that she was apolitical and that that is incorrect.

The police also learned of an assault that she reported in 2010 against someone that she referred to as her best friend and that he allegedly had forced her to kiss him, kiss her against her will. Well, he was never charged with that. And so that sort of takes that lead away.

And then finally, they found her cell phone and her purse in the car. And so many are saying, well that excludes a robbery attempt. So this really truly is a murder mystery.

BALDWIN: What about the ex-boyfriend? Has he been ruled out?

HOSTIN: Well, I don't think anyone has been ruled out at this point. Interestingly enough, she was talking to him on the phone when this occurred. But police are saying that they've interviewed him. They have -- you know they don't find him to be suspicious, but I think at this point, Brooke, they are still going to continue to follow any and all leads.

BALDWIN: The victim, as you mentioned, she was on the phone with the ex while she was driving. Could this be a simple case of road rage?

HOSTIN: Yet another theory, right? I mean we sort of thought that was the theory when the Hollywood publicist had been shot down and gunned down several months ago. But there is no evidence to support that theory either. And so this family is really asking the public, anyone that is viewing this segment today here on CNN to please reach out to Houston police and help them out.

BALDWIN: Second case, we're going to show this video. It's certainly been making the rounds online. Take a look.

It's horrific to look at. We should point out that the boy being attacked in the red pants there, he's 17 years of age. Police say he was lured into this alley by a 15-year-old girl. But half a dozen -- you saw them surrounding him. Half a dozen teenage boys beat him up, robbed him of his shoes, his wallet.

Seven teenagers, seven, have now been arrested. And what are the charges they're facing, Sunny? They're pretty serious.

HOSTIN: It defies logic, doesn't it? It's just remarkable.

BALDWIN: Horrible.

HOSTIN: One teen was charged as an adult. I want to mention that that teen happens to be the son of a Cook County sheriff's deputy who clearly should have known better.

BALDWIN: Wow.

HOSTIN: The rest, the 15-year-old girl, two 16-year-old boys, 3 15- year-old boys, they're all cited in juvenile delinquency petitions. They all face a count of robbery and aggravated battery including the teen who recorded the video.

And that's what's interesting here. People need to know that if you're part of it, part of this conspiracy, even the videographer gets charged.

BALDWIN: Rahm Emanuel, Chicago mayor, he's commenting. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL (D), CHICAGO: This should be, to all of us, a wake-up call about a value system, which is those kids doing that to another child is wrong. It is not tolerable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: It is so wrong, but Sunny, you know, you're a mom. Kids have phones, right? You know, a lot of these people are making these videos, posting them on the Internet. What does this indicate to you? Is this the value system gone awry? Kids crying for help? Why are kids doing this these days more and more? I don't get it.

HOSTIN: You know it's a nationwide epidemic. I think children are -- and adults, for that matter, are sort of leading their lives on the Internet. They're exposing themselves for everyone to see. But it's sort of -- and there's this trend I think where teens are bragging online. There's sort of this bravado going on that goes along not only with criminal behavior but young people, right?

And so I think it's just sort of a convergence of so many cultural dynamics that it's sort of what's happening now in our society. And it's so -- as I mentioned earlier, it defies logic that someone would commit a crime, because these are crimes, and then videotape themselves for -- on YouTube for everyone to see, including police investigators because this becomes then the prime piece of evidence in the case against them.

And so it's shocking but I also want to mention it's just not specific to Chicago. We're seeing it all over the nation. I spoke to some law enforcement friends of mine today, and they said they look at YouTube when they're investigating each and every crime because more and more, they're finding evidence of crime on YouTube.

BALDWIN: Yes, and I'm glad you point out that not only those guys that we see throwing the jabs but the videographer facing charges, as well. That's a wake-up call.

HOSTIN: That's right.

BALDWIN: Sunny Hostin on the case.

HOSTIN: Important to know.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

And coming up next, one of my dreams come true. Actually the dreams of many people on my staff. Look at her, Dolly Parton, the country music legend, the movie star, the multimillion-dollar businesswoman, and Dolly Parton, happy birthday. Happy birthday. Stay right there. She's making a huge announcement today on the other side of the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: And now I'm -- I love Nashville. I got to spend the last two the New Year's Eve there reporting live for CNN. But there is someone else who loves Nashville. And I think you know who she is. I'm making a dream come true here, folks, because I'm about to talk live to Dolly Parton, live on CNN.

Dolly Parton, I know that this is a big day for you. Nice to meet you, by the way. Happy birthday. And I just --

DOLLY PARTON, COUNTRY MUSIC LEGEND: Thank you.

BALDWIN: I just want to share with our viewers who you're sitting with there to your left. This is the CEO of Gaylord Entertainment, this is Colin Reed, and I know, Dolly, you're a serious businesswoman, you're a musician, you're an actress, the list goes on.

Tell me what you're doing in Nashville today?

PARTON: Well, today, I am here with Mr. Colin Reed for us to make an announcement because we're going in partnership to build a family recreation area across from Opryland and we're very excited about it. So we're going to be bringing more family entertainment into Nashville.

I've always wanted to work with them. First, the Grand Ole Opry is my home, as you know.

BALDWIN: Of course.

PARTON: I love Nashville. I've been here since 1964. But working with Colin is just a perfect marriage we think since we kind of have the two biggest parks areas in Tennessee.

BALDWIN: And Colin, let me just jump in.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Dolly Parton.

PARTON: I wanted him to jump in here.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: As the Dolly Parton work husband, I suppose, as she's sort of calling you. You know --

PARTON: Yes, he's my work husband.

BALDWIN: Right. OK. So, Colin, your company is Gaylord Entertainment, as she mentioned, you know, operating the famous resort Grand Ole Opry, of Opryland Resort, which we saw absolutely devastated by the storms in 2010. Here are some of the pictures. I know that was a very, very tough time. I've talked to people in Nashville about it.

COLIN REED, GAYLORD ENTERTAINMENT: Nashville is a tough town, though. You have come back, you renovated. What do you want people to know about your city?

Well, Nashville is one of the fun plays on the planet. You're right, we did have a terrible flood. And the city is back. Tourism is alive and well. And what we're about to do is just going to bring hundreds of thousands of more people to this wonderful city and for everyone that's listening to this little program today, you know, in about a year, year and a half, you can come and you can just experience some fabulous stuff in Nashville.

BALDWIN: OK, Dolly, to you. I will let you know, Dolly Parton, and I tried snagging an interview with you when you were here in Georgia filming your movie, "Joyful Noise", with Queen Latifah. And I know essentially that the plot of the movie kind of centers around people who bounce back from tough economic times. And just give us a little bit of your background because I know a little bit about your childhood and growing up, you could relate to that. You know a little bit about that, don't you?

PARTON: I absolutely can. It's also one of the reasons we're excited about the project that we're doing because it's also in addition to it being a good business venture for us, it's going to be providing a lot of work, a lot of jobs for other people. But yes, I can totally relate to the theme of the "Joyful Noise" movie because I grew up, as you say you knew, in a family of 12 children, a farmer's daughter. Poor people. And people having to work for a live.

So I most definitely related to the theme of the movie people falling on hard times. But we had a joyful time doing that movie in Atlanta. And it's out now. It's been out for a week and so hopefully, people will get out and see it. It's very uplifting. And uplifting the spirit. And that's what I'm kind of about whether it's at Dollywood or our there singing songs or touring, it's all about making people feel better.

BALDWIN: And I think something else that makes people feel better is music. I love music. I know you create amazing music. And I do this segment each and every Monday on my show. We call it "Music Monday," interview all these different artists.

And you know, when I sit down with them, and I know the schedules are busy and hectic, I always try to say, since we're CNN, I try to, you know, get their take on current political events and the climate. We're hosting this big debate tonight in South Carolina. And if I may throw a political question your way because I'm sure you have a bunch of fans in South Carolina.

Dolly Parton, have you had time to follow this presidential race? How do you make -- it's shaking up, there's now just four candidates.

PARTON: Well, I actually don't comment too much on politics. I just like to invite the people of South Carolina to come on down to our park -- because I don't care for politics. Not that much for politicians. I pretty much keep my stuff to myself because I just wish they cared as much about us as they, you know, should. So I'm not going to get into your politic question. I'm going to be too political for that.

BALDWIN: I will -- I will continue and throw you this other question. I asked a bunch of people on Twitter to send me a question to send to you. So this tweet, this comes from Ava Rose Denning. And she says yes, "In all your years in the biz, who is one person you have wanted to work with but haven't got a chance to yet?"

Dolly, who is that one person?

PARTON: Well, that's really a hard question to answer because usually if I'm really burning to work with somebody, I'll try to seek them out. But I would love -- some of my favorite people, I've always would like to do something with Johnny Depp. I've always liked him and I know he's a musician. I know he got discovered playing in a band on a movie or something.

That's what I heard. That I think he was a bass player or something. So I just love watching him on screen. And I always thought well, maybe he could be my son in a movie. Maybe we could do music or something together. But I'm sure at some point I'll get a chance to meet him. But I don't have any -- you know, any burning thing. Usually those things just fall into place. But I've worked with some wonderful people in my life.

BALDWIN: I know you have. I do want to ask back to your big announcement today. Tell us, and everyone who wants to know, when is the big park open?

PARTON: Well, we are hoping, Colin and I are hoping that we could get it open as late as the fall of next year, 2013. But they're telling us it might be more like the spring of 2014. Is that what you're hearing, Colin?

REED: I'm hearing --

PARTON: We're kind of rushing up --

REED: We're going to -- you know.

PARTON: We are whipping them.

REED: Flagging our little whips here to get them moving.

PARTON: Yes. We want to get it on. But anyway, we're doing it as fast as we can and, of course, you know we're -- the first lap of it is like water and snow park. And then we're going to be expanding doing a lot of wonderful things in that area. So we'll get it open quick as we can. So we want those people coming into Tennessee.

BALDWIN: Final question. Then I'll let the two of you go. You know, my executive producer Angie Massey is a dear friend of mine. And her favorite, favorite song is "Jolene." Would you mind, Dolly Parton, just taking us to break with a couple -- a couple of notes?

PARTON: Hit it, Colin. At least you can do this or something.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: Thank you. You just made someone's day. Dolly Parton and Colin Reed, thank you thank you.

And we'll be right back.

PARTON: Thank you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer is coming up in a few minutes, live from South Carolina. Wolf has a little preview.

Wolf Blitzer, what a day in political news. Whew.

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN'S THE SITUATION ROOM: For political news junkies like us, it's a great day because there's a lot of news. And it just so happens sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. On this day that we now know for sure -- at least as sure as we know it right now -- that Rick Santorum actually won the Iowa caucuses two weeks ago.

I spent sometime with him. I interviewed him exclusively here in Charleston, South Carolina, today. My interview with Rick Santorum coming up in the next hour. We're going to play all of the -- all of the interview, including what he says about Rick Perry, the decision that Rick Perry had to drop out, endorse Newt Gingrich, talk about some of the issues facing Newt Gingrich right now, issues raised by his second wife, so there's a lot to discuss with Rick Santorum.

You'll be interested in that. We've got all of our political analysts, all of our reporters. In the 5:00 p.m. Eastern hour, you know who's here in South Carolina? And he had suggested he's getting ready to have some sort of extraordinary endorsement. Guess who I'm talking about, Brooke?

BALDWIN: What, one of the four candidates who's about to get an extraordinary endorsement? Or someone else?

BLITZER: Do you remember a candidate named Herman Cain?

BALDWIN: We're talking about Stephen Colbert and Herman Cain in the big rally tomorrow?

BLITZER: Well, we're not talking about that exactly, but Herman Cain is here in Charleston, South Carolina. He had told me a couple of weeks ago when he was in Washington in "THE SITUATION ROOM," he's got some sort of extraordinary announcement he's going to make.

BALDWIN: Yes.

BLITZER: So I want to hear what he has to say. He's here in "THE SITUATION ROOM" so maybe he'll make the announcement in our 5:00 p.m. Eastern hour. Rick Santorum in our 4:00 p.m. Eastern hour. Herman Cain later. We got -- we got a solid two hours, coming up, all looking ahead, most of it at least, to tonight's big debate, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, only here on CNN.

BALDWIN: All right. Wolf Blitzer, we'll look for some news to be made in your show. Thank you so much. We'll see you in South Carolina.

And as the race heats up in that state, you know, Republicans getting ready to battle in tonight's debate, the Obama campaign today releasing his very first ad in the election season. May surprise you what they decided to focus on.

Brianna Keilar is standing by live. Nope, not at the White House. A different kind of house behind her. As in Cinderella's castle. Yes, she's in Disneyworld where the president was visiting today. She's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right, now, let's take a look at tomorrow's news today. We "Fast-Forward" here. Tomorrow is the eve of the South Carolina primary. And that means last-minute swings through key districts, candidates shaking hands, kissing babies, as many diners and parking lots as they can before the polls open.

But there is something else happening in South Carolina tomorrow. It's a rally, and it's not just any rally, it's the "Rock Me Like Herman Cain South Cain-olina Primary Rally," and it is hosted by this guy, Stephen Colbert, the late-night political satire host in South Carolina. A native. Here he is explaining his reason for throwing his support behind a candidate who is no longer in the race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, THE COLBERT REPORT: There is one candidate out there, who has not run a single negative ad, Herman Cain. A man who shares my values, that's why I've said that a vote for Herman Cain in this Saturday's primary would be a strong message to me that voters want me to run. Of course --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So you heard the last. Colbert getting a lot of laughs. We have no doubt Herman Cain will get some votes on Saturday, simply because Colbert has asked his fans to vote for Cain when they head to the polls. But people, I'm a little bit concerned, though, if more people are learning about the elections process from Stephen Colbert than, say, from me. I'm a fan of his, but it stings. I'm not going to lie. So in the midst of all of our fantastic coverage here with the best political team on television from the fine state of South Carolina tomorrow, we're going to talk to one of the organizers of this Colbert rally. Really? Because we want to know what exactly Colbert is trying to do in his home state.

"Political Pop." Following the president today, his destination Disneyworld. Take a look at the video as we can see him there in a minute. There he is, on Main Street USA, the magic kingdom, right in front of Cinderella's castle. There it is. Yes, president Obama in the land of Mickey Mouse, but this was no vacation.

Today he was pitching a plan for increasing U.S. tourism, and no, he did not sing "Be Our Guest" as the Disney song goes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today I directed my administration to send me a new national tourism strategy focused on creating jobs. And some of America's most successful business leaders, some who are here today have signed up to help.

We're going to see how we can make it easier for foreign tourists to find basic information about visiting America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Brianna Keilar, live for me at the happiest place on earth. Why Disneyworld as the backdrop, Brianna?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And you may hear a little noise, too. That's because a parade is going by the rose garden here outside of Cinderella's castle, Brooke.

We know nothing says tourism perhaps like Disneyworld. But also this is Florida, let's be honest, it's hugely important politically. The president won Florida in 2008. He's hoping to hang on to it this year. And also, he's got in uncanny knack lately for popping up in states where Republicans are duking it out.

Remember Iowa caucus night, we talked about this. He spoke virtually to his supporters there virtually. Here he is in Florida, which has the Republican primary later this month. And also next week he'll be in Nevada, which has the caucuses after the Florida primary -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: OK, so, and we'll keep talking through this parade music here, my friend. While the Republicans are still sorting out who will take on the president in November, the Obama campaign, as we mentioned a moment ago, released the very first ad today. Not focusing on tourism or jobs, actually his clean energy record. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Billionaires attacking President Obama with ads fact checkers say are not tethered to the facts. While independent watchdogs call this president's record on ethics unprecedented. And America's clean energy industry, 2.7 million jobs and expanding rapidly. For the first time in 13 years, our dependence on foreign oil is below 50 percent.

President Obama kept his promise to toughen ethics rules and strengthen America's energy economy.

OBAMA: I'm Barack Obama and I approved this message.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, again, this is add number one on energy. Why not issue number one, economy and jobs?

KEILAR: Clearly the president and his campaign here trying to push back on the issue of Solyndra, which as you know, Brooke, outside groups, outside Republican-backing groups have hit him for that bankrupted solar power company that had hundreds of millions in government loans, so this is sort of the defense, the push-back.

It's going to be a big issue in the primary. Republicans will hit him and he's trying to get his message out there before more Americans form an opinion about it.

BALDWIN: All right, Brianna Keilar with the rose garden behind her at the Disneyworld instead this time.

Brianna, thank you.

Meantime, before I let you go, Hollywood A-list Mark Wahlberg, he is now saying sorry for the comments he made about 9/11. In a recent interview in "Men's Journal" magazine, the actor says he was scheduled to fly on one of those hijacked planes, and insinuates he could have prevented it from crashing.

Here's what he said, quote, "If I was on that plane with my kids, it wouldn't have went down like it did. There would have been a lot of blood in that first class cabin, and then me saying, OK, we're going to land somewhere safely. Don't worry."

Wahlberg apologizing today, quote, "To suggest I would have done anything differently than the passengers on the plane was irresponsible. I deeply apologize to the victims and the families that my answer came off as insensitive. It was certainly not my intention."

Mark Wahlberg there.

And that's it for me. Thanks as always for watching here. I'm Brooke Baldwin at the world headquarters CNN in Atlanta. Time now -- again on the road, live from Charleston, South Carolina, Wolf Blitzer.

BLITZER: Brooke, thanks very much.